The Ski Trip
by cto4Wrin11989
Summary: X.A.N.A. has created virtual people to break up our band of heroes. With the upcoming ski trip, will they realize what’s happening in time to save the world once again? Are the odds just too great this time? Please R&R. COMPLETE!
1. The Flyer

Chapter 1: The Flyer  
  
"Hey, Ulrich, take a look at this!" Odd pulled Ulrich by the arm to the bulletin board which had amassed a crowd before it.  
"Come off it, Odd, we're going to be late for class!" Ulrich tried to pull away, but Odd interrupted.  
"Hey! It's a skiing trip! Wouldn't that be awesome, Ulrich? We could all go! It's next week! What do you say, Ulrich, huh? Come on, man!"  
Without giving it a second thought, Ulrich said, "Okay, Odd, whatever, but if we don't get to class I'm going to get a detention! Let's go!"  
Odd hastily grabbed one of the flyers being handed out by a girl making a speech about the trip under the sign as he was pulled away by Ulrich. They sat down just in time to not be marked late.  
After the teacher had called attendance and begun her lecture by writing down formulas on the blackboard, Odd turned around to speak to Yumi and Jeremy right behind him and Ulrich.  
"Hey, guys, did you hear about the skiing trip for the district next week? It's going to be fun! So, whaddaya say, guys? Can you go?" Odd whispered animatedly to them.  
"It sounds alright. What do you think, Ulrich?" Yumi took the flyer Odd was waving in her face and started reading it.  
Ulrich turned around and read the flyer upside-down. "Sounds cool, but it looks expensive."  
"Yeah, but it's district-wide... that means more students so maybe we won't get in trouble as much... I say we do it!" Yumi responded.  
"How about you, Jeremie?" Odd prodded.  
"Well, guys, I dunno, it sounds like-"  
"Jeremie! Odd! Ulrich! Yumi! I'd pay attention if I were you; this is going to be on a test!"  
"Yes, ma'am." they said in unison in response to the teacher's scolding.  
They waited until they were out of class to start discussing the trip again.  
"So what's up, Jeremie? It would be fun!" Odd tried immediately to interrogate Jeremie.  
"I know it sounds like fun, guys, but I'm just worried about Aelita, I don't know if we should stay away that long- it's a week, isn't it?- something could happen while we're gone."  
"Oh, come on Jeremie, we should have some fun in our lives, don't you think? You can keep in contact with Aelita with your new laptop. She'll alert us if anything's up, and then we can fake sick or something if we have to come back to go to Lyoko. So, are we all in?" Odd looked around expectantly.  
"I'm in," Ulrich said.  
"I'm in as well," Yumi responded and looked at Jeremie with a sympathizing face. "How about you, Jeremie? I know it'll be weird to be away from Aelita and Lyoko, but I agree with Odd... how long has it been since we've really had fun? And not boring fun, but no-strings-attached, no- responsibilities, no-X.A.N.A. fun?"  
Jeremie hesitated and sighed. "Oh alright, we'll try it-"  
"Yeah!" Odd interrupted.  
"But on the condition that we all agree to come back as soon as we hear something's up from Aelita, okay?"  
"Okay." The group responded enthusiastically.  
"No problem, Jeremie. You know we'd never abandon Aelita totally, don't you?" Ulrich said with a smile on his face.  
"Thanks, guys." Jeremie grinned, and the group started walking off to their next class. 


	2. The Arrival

Chapter 2: The Arrival  
  
Yumi stopped by Ulrich and Odd's room before the bus was scheduled to leave for the trip. "Hey," she greeted.  
Ulrich was in the room with Jeremie, but without Odd. Ulrich's suitcases were nearly packed as he dug out various items from under his bed, and Jeremie's suitcases were all ready to go by the door. There was another case, presumably Odd's, which was only half packed with clothes and junk strewn about the floor near it.  
"Hi Yumi." Jeremie glanced up from the laptop he held in his lap for a second to greet her. "Hey, Yumi. Already packed?" Ulrich asked, peeking out from the bed for a moment before diving back in.  
"Yeah, I've already brought my stuff down to the drop-off. You guys better hurry, loading's in ten minutes. Where's Odd?"  
"Who knows? He left a couple minutes ago, muttering something about clean socks. He hasn't been back, and he's only half packed." Ulrich told her, coming out from under the bed and standing up with something that looked like a walkman clutched in his fist. He stuffed the walkman in his suitcase and zipped it up, then set it next to Jeremie's by the door. Yumi took a seat on the bed where the suitcase had been, peering over at Odd's things. She glanced at the clock on the wall.  
"Five more minutes. I wonder if we should finish packing for him? I want to get decent seats in the back for us." Yumi pondered as Ulrich sat down next to her.  
"No, it's Odd. He's scatterbrained, but he'll show up in time. Let's wait a couple more minutes."  
"Okay. How about a game of cards then? Jeremie? Want to join us?" Yumi pulled out a deck from her carry-on bag and started shuffling.  
"No thanks, guys. I'm still fixing settings on the laptop, but you guys go ahead."  
Yumi looked at Ulrich. "Ha, ha. So it's just you and me then, is it? Prepare to be beaten at the game of Speed!"  
"No way, Yumi! You're going down!" And with a last quick look at the clock, they started playing. They were so wrapped up in their game and Jeremie with his laptop that they were startled when Odd burst through the door ten minutes later clutching a pair of clean socks.  
"Whoa, you have no idea how hard it is to bum a pair of socks off of someone in this school!" Jeremie stuffed the socks in his suitcase. He also unceremoniously stuffed in the remaining clothes surrounding the suitcase as well as a pile of things from on top of his dresser.  
"Oh no, guys! Loading's started five minutes ago; we'll never get decent seats now! Come on!" Yumi rushed to put away the cards as the others scrambled to get to the door with their luggage. With one last zip of a suitcase Odd was ready, and they started the procession, half jogging with their heavy luggage and Yumi urging them on, down the hallway. They finally got outside to where the three buses were awaiting the students. The three boys dropped off their luggage with the pile of other students' suitcases, and Yumi led them onto a bus whose line was quickly diminishing.  
Once on board though, she let out a groan. "Oh, great." she said. There were only two seats together towards the front of the bus, and a couple other single seats available scattered here and there. She started urging everyone out and onto another bus so they could have seats together, but Jim wouldn't let them off.  
"There're seats in there, kids. No more space anywhere else; go on and let's get moving."  
Ulrich faces the group at the front of the bus. "There are only two seats together. Who's going to take them?"  
"I'll go into a single seat, guys. I've got my laptop to keep me company, it's okay." Jeremie volunteered, indicating his laptop he had brought as a carry-on.  
"And I think I see- oops, I, um, I mean, I'll take a single seat too." Odd blushed and pointed to a seat next to a very pretty girl looking out her window.  
Yumi laughed and agreed. She and Ulrich took the two seats as they let Odd and Jeremie shuffle farther backwards deeper onto the bus. Yumi had just taken out the deck of cards again for her and Ulrich to play with when they were greeted by the people in the seat behind them.  
"Hi, my name's Paige Brooks. This is my brother, Parker. You guys are coming on the skiing trip too?"  
Paige and her brother were clearly related, both having curly dark brown hair and strikingly green eyes. They were also pretty tall, which Yumi could tell even though they were sitting down. They both looked really cool, and Yumi and Ulrich took an instant liking to their friendly attitude and chatter.  
"Uh, hi, Paige. Yeah, we're coming. It looks like fun, doesn't it? Oh, I'm Yumi, and this is Ulrich. How long of a ride are we taking?"  
"Oh, it's something like an hour. Should be really boring, don't you think? Hey, I have a deck of cards, if you'd like to play something," Paige said.  
"Hey, we have cards, too. That's cool; sure, what do you like to play?" Yumi smiled and brandished her own deck.  
"Well, I really like Speed, but that's a two-person game." Paige said.  
"Hey, that's my favorite, too! We can try four-way Speed, that'd be crazy and fun!"  
"Sounds great!"  
Yumi started dealing out the cards to herself, Ulrich, Paige, and Paige's brother Parker. Soon the whole group was laughing their heads off at the crazy attempts at playing Speed on a bus that bumped up and down every time they hit a small pebble on the road. They were nearly in hysterics from having a great time when they realized they were at their destination.  
"Wow, that was fast!" Yumi proclaimed, wiping tears from her eyes from laughing so hard and gathering up the cards. "Hey, what room are you in, Paige? I don't know where I am-" she produced a piece of paper from her pocket- "I'm in room 224."  
"Hey, we're roommates!" Paige exclaimed.  
"How about you, Ulrich? Parker?" Yumi asked.  
"We're roommates, too. Room 109." Parker said as he and Ulrich compared papers.  
"Well, that's cool! Hey, look, we're getting off. Let's go, Paige!" Yumi said excitedly, grabbing her hand and pushing to get off the bus. "Let's go check out our room."  
"Wow, dude, I'm hungry." Ulrich noticed, "Judging from the way my stomach's rumbling."  
"Hey, me too. Let's check out the cafeteria to see what's cooking." Parker responded as he and Ulrich left the bus behind Yumi and Paige.  
Little did Yumi or Ulrich realize, though, that Jeremie and Odd were trying to get their attention from the back of the bus. 


	3. Breaking Up

Chapter 3: Breaking Up  
  
"Hey, Paige, are we meeting Ulrich and Parker down in the cafeteria?" Yumi yawned as she struggled to carry her heavy winter coat, cap, skis, and poles as Paige led the way with her own stuff.  
"No, I thought we'd just pop in for some muffins or something, but I don't think we'll be seeing the guys down there."  
It was a couple of days into the trip, and Yumi and Paige had not spent a minute of it apart. Moreover, Yumi had come to really like and trust Paige; there was something about her that Yumi couldn't place, but it seemed to draw Yumi to her new friend. Yumi shrugged. It didn't matter that they weren't meeting Ulrich now- they'd probably see them later.  
Paige walked a little ahead and whisked into the cafeteria, almost instantly reappearing with two huge blueberry muffins. She then led the way down to the waiting room of the lodge and sat down on an empty bench.  
"Here," she offered when Yumi sat down next to her. Yumi took the muffin and wolfed it down to match Paige's pace as the girl sped to eat her own and put on her coat. Then, when both girls were fully ready to hit the slopes, Yumi stood up and headed toward the door.  
"Hey, Yumi, wait." Paige said, grabbing her arm gently so that she turned around. Yumi grinned and waited. "I don't know how to tell you this," she started, hesitating.  
Yumi, sensing something was amiss, asked, "What's up, Paige?"  
"Well, yesterday, when I was out of the room because I needed to borrow something from Parker, you know? Well, I was going down the hallway but I heard Ulrich's voice coming down the hall from around the corner. I was going to say hi, but then I heard... well, I heard him talking about you."  
"What did he say?"  
"Well, it was stuff like 'Yumi is so bossy sometimes,' and 'I can't believe she actually thinks I like her'. Oh Yumi, I'm really sorry, but he sounded serious!" Paige looked at Yumi with a worried expression.  
Yumi, who was expecting Ulrich to say something completely opposite of those statements, took a while to register the fact that Ulrich had insulted her. "What?!" she demanded. But without waiting for an answer from Paige to the rhetorical question, she turned furious. "Ulrich said that? About me? How could he say that? Well, he thinks I like him, does he? Hah! More like he likes me! He thinks he's so much better than me... I can't believe him! Well, Paige, thanks for warning me, I was actually being nice to him! I think he needs to apologize before he gets another word from me!" Yumi stormed out of the door in a huff, forcefully slamming her ski poles into the ground as she jammed her skis on.  
Paige followed her and slipped her gear on as well, but when Yumi was looking the other way, a fleeting glimpse of a sneaky grin could be seen on Paige's face, to be wiped away an instant later.  
  
"I thought we were meeting Yumi and Paige for breakfast this morning." Ulrich said with a slight frown.  
"Sorry, I forgot to set my alarm, we slept in. No matter, we can catch up with them later... that is, if you really want to, Ulrich, because I wouldn't want to meet Yumi too badly if I were you." Parker said, one eyebrow raised, before hopping out of his bed and starting to get dressed for a day on the slopes.  
"What's that about? Why wouldn't I want to meet Yumi?" Ulrich asked, surprised, before following Parker's actions and getting up himself.  
"Oh, I forgot to tell you... okay, well, do you like Yumi much?"  
"Sure, why wouldn't I? What aren't you telling me? Come on, Parker."  
"It's just that yesterday, when I went to borrow something from Paige, I heard Yumi coming down the opposite hallway, and I was going to say hi, but I heard her say some things about you. She said stuff like 'Ulrich is so bossy sometimes' and 'I can't believe he actually thinks I like him'." Parker waited, standing at his dresser so that his back to Ulrich, for his roommate's reaction.  
"I...I don't believe it." Ulrich hung his head; he had really thought Yumi liked him as much as he liked her. "What happened?" he whispered so Parker couldn't hear him. Ulrich's defeated state lasted only a minute; he raised his head with a determined look on his face. "Well then," he said audibly, "If she doesn't care about me, I sure as heck shouldn't care about her. Let's go, Parker, I want to do what we came here for and ski, not socialize with so-called friends." Ulrich started throwing clothes on, seeming not to care that he knocked over several items purposefully on his way to the bathroom.  
Parker gave the same fleeting grin as his sister, and continued to dress.  
  
"Come on, Odd. Wake up."  
Odd stirred but rolled over, so Jeremie shook him harder.  
"ODD! Come on! If you don't get up, we're going to miss lunch, not to mention breakfast!"  
At the mention of food, Odd shot up and was dressed in much less time than Jeremie was. "Odd, I'm getting really worried about Yumi and Ulrich. We haven't seen them since they left the bus! I don't understand it. Why didn't they wait up for us? We may even very well be in a different lodge, because we haven't seen them in the hallways or anything. Well, Odd? What do you think?" Jeremie was clearly worried about his friends, but Odd seemed to think differently.  
"Well I don't see what there is to worry about, Jeremie. They seemed pretty chummy with those two kids that they left the bus with; I say that we shouldn't worry about them if they don't even care about us enough to wait for us when they got off. Humph." Odd started toward the door to go down to breakfast, and Jeremie jogged to keep up with Odd's fast walk down the hallway. 


	4. Cards

Chapter 4: Cards  
  
Jeremie had decided to take the next day off to be with Aelita. Skiing wasn't really his thing; he only went to be with his friends, but since he hadn't been in contact with two of them since the bus ride and the other called him Einstein every time they spoke (it got pretty annoying), Jeremie decided to spend some quality time with Aelita. Odd went out skiing with someone they had met in the cafeteria for lunch one day (Jeremie recalled that his name was Peter Brooks).  
"Hey, Aelita, how are things in Lyoko?" Jeremie asked upon contacting her.  
"Actually, not very good, Jeremie. Everything was alright and quiet up until five minutes ago, I started noticing heavier pulsations around the desert region when I went to check it out. Has anything unusual happened over there?"  
"No, so that's weird. How can X.A.N.A. be attacking if we haven't noticed it yet? Oh well, it doesn't matter, because if you're experiencing pulsations over there, it means you're in danger, and an attack's bound to happen here soon. Hold on a minute; let me scan for activated towers.... Yes! There's one in the desert region like you predicted. I knew this would happen! I just knew it; it's never good to leave the lab! How are we going to get the others into Lyoko to protect you? Listen, start for that tower, but only until you see a welcoming committee. Don't try to get to the tower before I find the others, but no knowing how long that's going to take...." Jeremie left off mumbling.  
"What do you mean, Jeremie? What's wrong?"  
"Well, it's just that I haven't talked to Ulrich or Yumi since I got here, and Odd's supposedly out skiing now," Jeremie glanced at the clock on the wall. "But hey, if I hurry, he may still be at lunch. Hold on Aelita, I- " But he stopped short: the power had just gone out, leaving him in total darkness and out of contact with Aelita. "Aelita!" He yelled, even though he knew it was no use. He groped in the darkness toward his dresser and succeeded in finding his flashlight after being bruised badly in the shin because of hitting the low-set end table. He switched it on and clutched his shin.  
"THAT'S IT!" he exclaimed to himself. "NO MORE! Aelita's in danger, and I won't tolerate that! I'm going to find Odd and the others! NOW! Don't worry, Aelita!" he shouted even though no one could hear as he raced out of his room and down to the cafeteria.  
Once there, he noticed something peculiar: people were sitting at the tables, but no one was moving....  
"Odd!" Jeremie spotted his friend's blonde hair from the back sticking up above the crowd. It was creepy... walking through a room of people who all seemed... paralyzed...  
"Odd!" Jeremie rounded on him, but to his horror, Odd was paralyzed like all the rest. "This is definitely X.A.N.A.'s doing..." he muttered to himself. Then he noticed something about Odd was unusual, even more unusual than the fact that he was paralyzed....  
Odd had evidently been playing cards when he was frozen. But what's more, he was playing a two-person game (Speed, Jeremie realized), but no one was sitting across from him. It looked like whoever was playing with him had gotten away....  
"Or actually did the paralyzing!" Jeremie said aloud as he thought to himself. This was getting way too freaky. Thinking as quickly as possible as he could on his feet, Jeremie rushed to the front desk and quickly found an open binder listing the occupants of each room in the building. He scanned his finger down the list but never found Ulrich or Yumi. He knew that they had to be in the other building now.... He hurried out the door and through the freezing snow to the other lodge students had been residing in. There was no way he could do anything without the other two to help him now that Odd wasn't going to be much of a help.  
He wasted no time in checking an identical binder on the second lodge's reception desk and finding that Ulrich was in Room 109 and Yumi in Room 224. He started off for Ulrich's, as it was the closest, but did a double-take. The other person in Ulrich's room was a Parker Brooks? And with Yumi, Paige Brooks? Was it too much of a coincidence that.... He shook it off. That wasn't important now- he had to get to Ulrich and Yumi, and fast. Aelita was in danger.  
That last thought gave him a burst of speed, and he found himself in front of Ulrich's room relatively quickly. "ULRICH! YOU BETTER BE IN THERE! COME OUT NOW! WE NEED TO TALK!" he shouted as loud as he could, hoping he wasn't too late. He pounded on the door with both fists.  
  
Before the power-outage  
Jessie walked down to the lodge from the slopes, exhausted, but still happy from her exhilarating day spent skiing with her friend.  
"Wow, that was awesome, Jessie! But now, I think I'm definitely ready for a rest!" Jessie's friend Marietta said, walking next to Jessie and carrying her skis over her shoulder.  
"I agree!" The girls giggled all the way to the lodge. But as they passed the reception area, the power went out. They heard several people scream, and they stopped.  
"Marietta? You there?"  
"Yeah. I can't see a thing, can you? But I have a flashlight in our room; do you think we can make it there? We'll have to use the stairs, but I think I remember where they are."  
"Okay." The girls held hands to stay together and made their way down the hall to where Marietta reckoned the stairs were. But as they walked, they went past the cafeteria and noticed that several people already had their flashlights and people were having a good time. They started to enter the cafeteria instead and unloaded their stuff at a table, being able to see due to the dim light provided by the few flashlights of people there.  
"Hey, Jessie! Marietta!" Morgan, one of the girls' friends from school, spotted them and beckoned them over. As they smiled and approached, she held out a deck of cards and Jessie took it. "Stay and play cards in the cafeteria, won't you guys? This girl called Penny Brooks is handing them out. She has tons, don't worry about taking some, they should be fun seeing as there's nothing else to do!"  
Jessie and Marietta smiled and obliged, seating themselves at the table they dumped their gear on, as Jessie took out the cards and started dealing them. They had a funny symbol that she hadn't seen before on them, she noticed vaguely, something like two circles, one within the other, and a dot in the very center. But then she started dealing out the cards and just as she and Marietta both picked up their hands, she couldn't move her arms... her legs... her whole body... then her mind shut down. 


	5. The Plan

Chapter 5: The Plan  
  
"Hey, Ulrich." Parker's flashlight flicked on and shone in Ulrich's face. The pair had gone in for lunch after a morning on the slopes, and were in their room when the power had gone out. So, they had decided to stay in.  
  
"Yeah?" Ulrich asked, turning around to look at him.  
  
"Want to play cards? It should serve to pass the time."  
  
"Sure." Ulrich agreed without thought; it would be boring stuck in the room all afternoon with nothing to do.  
  
As Parker started dealing the cards, though, there was the sound of thudding footsteps in the corridor. Ulrich didn't worry about it at first, until he heard someone banging on his door and shouting: "ULRICH! YOU BETTER BE IN THERE! COME OUT NOW! WE NEED TO TALK!"  
  
"Jeremie?" Ulrich said as he stood up from the table where Parker was dealing the cards.  
  
"Ulrich! Wait! Sit down, I can deal the cards and we can play!" Parker said when he noticed Ulrich standing up.  
  
"Hold on a minute, Parker, it's my friend Jeremie out there, and it sounds like it's something urgent; Jeremie never yells like that, except when..." Ulrich trailed off, but finished the statement as he thought to himself: except when Aelita's in danger, which would mean a X.A.N.A. attack...oh no....  
  
But just as Ulrich had one hand on the doorknob to open it, Parker grabbed his other arm and pulled him back a little.  
  
"Ulrich! Don't you think Jeremie can wait two minutes while I deal the cards? It'll be really fun to play Speed again, don't you think? Come on, Ulrich..." He started forcibly pulling Ulrich back towards the table. Ulrich gave him a weird look and shook him off.  
  
"Parker, the cards will be fine while I talk to Jeremie. Just hold on a minute, okay?"  
  
But, evidently, Parker could not wait. He lunged back at Ulrich and shouted, "NO! You must play cards!"  
  
"Get off me, Parker! I need to talk to Jeremie first! Cool it!" Ulrich shook him off again, but this time with more difficulty as it became apparent Parker did not want Ulrich to talk to Jeremie at any cost, at least before he played cards with Ulrich.  
  
Ulrich started to sense that something was amiss, and his belief was confirmed when suddenly, Parker's eyes flashed red.  
  
"PARKER! What the heck are you? Get away from me!" Ulrich backed away toward the door and got out as quick as he could, slamming it behind him so that Parker could not follow him out.  
  
"ULRICH!" Jeremie exclaimed when Ulrich appeared, visibly shaken. "What took you so long?"  
  
"Jeremie, I think my roommate's gone crazy! I don't know what happened, but he wouldn't let me come out here to talk to you before we played cards and then he grabbed my arm and then I could just barely shake him off but then his eyes flashed red and I only just got away..."  
  
"Ulrich, calm down! Take a breath. Actually, even though that may have seemed scary, it proves the theory I've been formulating. Only, if your roommate is trying to get out, then I'll explain it to you later... In the meantime, we have to hurry. Listen. I believe X.A.N.A. is attacking again. We have to get back to Lyoko to protect Aelita. You should go get transportation. I think your best bet is to steal Jim's car. You know what it looks like; it's in the parking garage. But you'll need keys, so go find Jim's room- you should find it in the hotel's log book at the front desk- he should be out on the slopes doing patrol or something. No more time to waste- just meet me in the lobby as soon as you can."  
  
Ulrich took a couple of deep breaths, agreed, and darted back to get the number of Jim's room. Jeremie, meanwhile, needed to get Yumi on board as well, and headed toward room 224.  
  
Upon his arrival, he began banging on the door in the same fashion he had used to get Ulrich's attention. "YUMI! IT'S JEREMIE! YOU NEED TO COME OUT NOW! IT'S IMPORTANT! COME ON, YUMI!"  
  
He continued on for about a minute, when Yumi suddenly burst out and shut the door quickly behind her. She looked like she had just seen a ghost. But when she started to speak, Jeremie interrupted.  
  
"It's okay! I know your roommate just attacked you! She was trying to get you to play cards, wasn't she? Anyway, I already have a plan, but we need to hurry! We're going back to the lab and into Lyoko! X.A.N.A.'s attacking, and I don't have contact with Aelita because of the power outage. Let's go!"  
  
Yumi was about to ask how he knew what had just happened inside her room, but thought better of it- Jeremie seemed to have things under control, and when Jeremie thought something was happening and thought he knew how to solve it, he was probably right.  
  
The two scurried down to the lobby and had to wait five tension-filled minutes until Yumi decided to ask some of her burning questions.  
  
"Okay, Jeremie. You seem like you have this under control. But can I ask how we are planning to get back to Lyoko? What are we waiting for here?"  
  
But before Jeremie had a chance to answer, Ulrich, snow-covered and panting, burst through the front doors. "Okay, Jeremie, I got the car... let's go kick some X.A.N.A...." But he never finished his sentence, because he had spotted Yumi. He cut off and asked instead, "What's she doing here?" He looked accusingly at Jeremie.  
  
Yumi also shot a withering glance at Ulrich before also turning to Jeremie.  
  
"Guys! What is this? Haven't you heard me? Aelita's in danger! I don't care what the heck you two got going on between you now, but now's not the time! Settle it in the car if you must, but we need to get going!" Jeremie dashed out the front doors so Ulrich and Yumi had no chance but to follow him. But as he got into the driver's seat of the car and turned the keys that were in the ignition, Yumi realized two very important things that Jeremie had seemed to overlook.  
  
"Wait, Jeremie! You don't have a driver's license! What do you think you're doing?"  
  
"Do you really care if I have a license or not? Listen, All I know is that Aelita's in danger and if we don't get to Lyoko in time, X.A.N.A.'s going to finally take over! We have to hurry! Any other questions?" he asked as he started to drive the car slowly, then faster and faster along the slippery road.  
  
"Yeah." Yumi said, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Where's Odd?"  
  
"So basically Paige and Parker are working for X.A.N.A.? And the cards were his plan to discreetly have them paralyze us so that X.A.N.A. could have an easier time of taking over?"  
  
"That's what I think. That's why they went all crazy when you guys said you wouldn't play cards with them. I think they must have guessed why I was there. When we were on separate seats on the bus, they deliberately tried to separate our group so we couldn't keep in touch. I think X.A.N.A. also initiated the power outage, so that I couldn't have contact with Aelita. The only thing is, Aelita told me she was experiencing pulsations and I found an activated tower in the desert region just before the power outage. If it wasn't for that, you both would be paralyzed right now, along with Odd!" With that thought, Jeremie pressed down harder on the gas pedal in an attempt to reach the lab sooner.  
  
Now Yumi and Ulrich were up to date on the plan. There was just one thing left for Jeremie to discover... "So what's up with you two? Did you have a fight or something?"  
  
"Fight? No. It's just I found out that Ulrich's been talking behind my back."  
  
"Me? It was you talking behind my back!"  
  
"How dare you say something like that! I would never-"  
  
"Okay! OKAY! Sorry I asked! Let's just wait until we've sorted this whole thing out first, agreed?"  
  
Both Yumi and Ulrich folded their arms, looked out their windows, and replied with a humph. 


	6. Lyoko at Last

Chapter 6: Lyoko at Last  
  
In due time, Jeremie returned to town, to see that the power was on. "We're in luck, guys- I bet X.A.N.A. only thought to cut power where we were staying because he figured we wouldn't get back here- so we can get into Lyoko and save Aelita! I just hope she's doing alright-" he sighed and gave a downcast look to the steering wheel with his shoulders hunched over. Then he remembered the reason they were away from Lyoko in the first place. "But if she's not okay- I know who to blame!" He shouted as he plowed Jim's car into the forest and got out, Yumi and Ulrich close behind. "It was your fault we went on that stupid skiing trip anyway! I tried to make you stay here, but nooooo- never listen to Jeremie-"  
  
His voice diminished as he climbed down the ladder on his way to the lab. Ulrich and Yumi rolled their eyes at each other, before remembering why they weren't speaking and looking away hastily. Yumi followed Jeremie down and Ulrich brought up the rear.  
  
The three hurried down without further quarrel for Aelita's sake- and soon Jeremie reached the super computer as Ulrich and Yumi continued down in the elevator to the scanners.  
  
Jeremie ran to the computer and booted it up. "Aelita!" he shouted to the screen, hoping that she would hear him and be able to respond.  
  
For a few, agonizing seconds Jeremie thought she didn't make it. He furrowed his brow and clenched his teeth together. "You better not have left me, Aelita! Not now! I'm so sorry; I should have gotten here sooner- Aelita!" He held his head in his hands, not knowing how to act or what to do if she didn't show up on the screen soon.  
  
"Jeremie!" Aelita finally appeared on the screen, although she seemed weak and out of breath.  
  
Jeremie snapped his head up at her voice. "Aelita! I was so worried, I can't believe-"  
  
But Aelita cut him off. "I'm really glad to see you're here, Jeremie, but we have urgent matters to attend to. I found the activated tower; it's in the mountain region. Do you have anyone at the scanners? There are already so many blocks guarding the tower and I've been hiding, but they keep coming!"  
  
Jeremie had never been so relieved in his life to see Aelita, but he snapped himself back to reality. Later would be the time to talk to Aelita- now was the time to send Ulrich and Yumi to help her. "Yeah, I've got Ulrich and Yumi down there; I'll send them as quick as I can.  
  
Just then, Ulrich used his cell phone to call Jeremie through the computer. "Jeremie, we're down here and ready to be virtualized, whenever you're ready." Before Jeremie could respond, he hung up.  
  
"That's my signal," Jeremie whispered to himself, and prepared to send his friends into Lyoko another time.  
  
"Scanner: Yumi.... Scanner: Ulrich." He paused for a few seconds, hoping that they could save Aelita without Odd's help. Then he thought of Aelita, hiding from the blocks, and knew the only way to save her was to try to help her as much as possible. He hoped for the best as he said boldly and clearly, "Virtualization."  
  
Aelita looked to the sky frantically, hoping that Ulrich and Yumi would hurry up and get there. There were already ten blocks waiting for them, and without Odd, they'd each have five blocks to deal with on their own. If worse came to worse, Aelita was capable of protecting herself, but she had no offensive powers to get past the blocks if Yumi and Ulrich were devirtualized.  
  
She peered over the medium-sized rock she was hiding behind and was relieved that no new blocks had appeared, so she figured X.A.N.A. thought they weren't coming because they were already unusually late. Then her hopes for defeating their opponents soared, as she saw Yumi and Ulrich had virtualized behind the guard the blocks had set up. Aelita watched closely as both Ulrich and Yumi snuck up behind the blocks and destroy two each before the blocks knew what hit them.  
  
"Four down, six to go, guys. That's three for each of you. No life points lost, either, which is a good thing. Good start, guys. If you can, draw the blocks away from that little cluster of rocks to the right of you- that's where my computer detects Aelita is staying safe." Jeremie tried to help out his friends as much as possible, but today he was feeling particularly helpless. He sometimes felt like this- he felt as though he should be in the action, directly helping defeat their enemies, instead of watching from the sidelines. He shook his head to rid him of those thoughts. "This is no time to think about that, Jeremie- snap out of it. You are the only one who knows how to operate the super computer and you know it. No one would be able to get into Lyoko if it wasn't for you." He said to himself, and almost cheered himself up, before he saw Yumi take her first hit from one of the blocks.  
  
Yumi took the hit full-on, and it sent her tumbling down. But she willed herself to get up- she knew the monsters wouldn't get defeated without her help. She charged full-force at the block that had hit her and threw her fan at its mark. At the same time, the block charged up its laser for another hit- but Yumi's fan struck dead on before it could release. Her fan followed its usual boomerang pattern and found its way back to her hand. She chanced a look around the field and spotted that in the time she was hit and had destroyed one block, Ulrich was more than making up for it, destroying two of his own. That left only 3 blocks. They were doing well, especially with the absence of Odd, whose weapon would have been the most effective in this situation.  
  
But while she chanced her look around, she had lost concentration- and the one block that wasn't bearing down on Ulrich took her inattentiveness as an opportunity to fire one of its lasers. Yumi only realized it in time to start to get out of its flight path- not enough to dodge it entirely but enough so that it hit her shoulder instead of her neck.  
  
"Yumi! You only have four more hits! You're losing life points! Be careful, Yumi!"  
  
She heard Jeremie's reassuring voice and it gave her a new will to fight- she had to destroy these blocks in order to save the people she loved most- her friends, her family, Ulrich... she thought before she could stop herself. She shook her head quickly and charged at the block that had hit her and put it away, no problem. In the meantime, Ulrich had done away with one of the remaining two blocks. The other one changed its target and went for Yumi instead of Ulrich.  
  
The block was just out of the range of her fan, but not out of the range of its lasers. It began relentlessly pounding her with lasers in the arm, front, leg- instead of charging toward it to finish it off, Yumi was pushed back by the force of the hits and couldn't see the cliff looming behind her that she surely would've fallen down if Ulrich hadn't seen it first.  
  
Ulrich knew Yumi only had one hit left before she was devirtualized, and for one second he contemplated letting her have it. After all, who was she to talk about him behind his back? Then he thought back to the car- Yumi had said that he had been the one talking behind her back. Why would she think that? Ulrich thought. If she had been talking behind his back she sure covered it up well- and then Ulrich gasped as he realized something. He had heard from Parker that Yumi was talking about him behind his back- the same Parker that X.A.N.A. had created to try to disband the group and knock everyone unconscious so that they couldn't get back to Lyoko. Parker probably made all that up about what Yumi said so we would fight and work against each other!  
  
And with that realization fresh in his mind, he stormed at the block that was attacking Yumi from behind, leaped up onto the top of it and plunged his sword into the center of the target before it could get Yumi another time. "Impact!" Ulrich shouted, glad that that was the last of the blocks. Unfortunately, the block's last blast had hit Yumi in the leg, and she was so close to the edge that when it threw her legs out from under her, the lower half of her body was flung over the cliff and for one awful second Ulrich just saw her falling and he was unable to help her in time.  
  
Then, as he sprinted full-speed toward the cliff with vain hopes of saving her, he saw her fingers hurriedly clutch at the edge of the cliff and she hung there for just long enough for Ulrich to reach her and grasp her wrist.  
  
"U- Ulrich...." Yumi looked up so see him grasping her wrist and with effort, pulled her up to the safety of the ground above her. "B- but Paige.... Paige said...."  
  
Ulrich just smiled and added, "Yes, Yumi. Paige said." Then it clicked in Yumi's brain and she threw her arms around Ulrich in a big hug.  
  
"Oh, Ulrich... I'm so sorry I ever thought you would...."  
  
"It's okay, Yumi. I made the same mistake." Ulrich cut her off and hugged her back. "I'm just glad we figured it out."  
  
Meanwhile, Aelita had saw Ulrich destroy the last of the blocks and hurried past him to deactivate the tower.  
  
Jeremie sighed and smiled. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes because he knew they were all safe now. Once Aelita had entered the code, though, he sat back up straight and hit the return key on his keyboard. "Return to the past, now."  
  
Yumi, Ulrich, and Jeremie found themselves sitting back in Odd's and Ulrich's room before they had boarded the bus. Yumi glanced up at the clock.  
  
"Odd's left to find a pair of socks, remember?"  
  
"Uh-huh." Ulrich and Jeremie smiled.  
  
"Okay, well, I think I'll go down to the bus and reserve some seats." Jeremie picked up his suitcases by the door and hurried down to the pick-up station.  
  
"Good idea," Yumi muttered before Jeremie had left.  
  
A couple minutes after Jeremie had left, Odd burst into the room with a pair of clean socks. Ulrich and Yumi cracked a smile and shook their heads.  
  
"What, we have no idea how hard it is to bum a pair of socks off someone in this school?" Ulrich asked before Odd could say it.  
  
"Wha.... how'd you know that's what I was going to say?!" Odd breezed past his two friends and hurriedly packed the rest of his stuff.  
  
Yumi and Ulrich just smiled again and laughed. "We'll fill you in on the bus, okay? Jeremie's saving us seats so we better hurry." Yumi told Odd.  
  
Odd just hummed, scatterbrained as he was, and finished packing. "I just hope X.A.N.A. doesn't attack while we are gone, like Jeremie's worried about!"  
  
Ulrich and Yumi laughed harder. "Odd," Yumi gasped between giggles, "I hope you're right!"  
  
YAY! End of the story- I'm sorry it took SOOOOO long to get it finished, guys- I lost my motivation halfway through, but I finished it because of three cool reviews that motivated me... so thanks to all my reviewers, but especially sea-tiger170, Travis1593, and supersayian1! I hope everyone enjoyed this story. Wrin 


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